Doctor Glas (Hjalmar Söderberg)
Doctor Glas is written in the form of a diary, kept by the eponymous hero. Sometimes the entries are very short and to the point, sometimes rather more conventional narratives that seem, as one reads them, more like a carefully composed novel than a diary. Which is what it is, of course.
Glas is visited by the wife of a clergyman (Gregorius) who insists on exercising his spousal ‘rights’ rather too vigorously for her tastes. She’s having an affair with another man and is repulsed by her husband’s carnality, especially as it is wrapped up in some very dubious religiosity.
Glas becomes obsessed with Mrs. Gregorius and resolves to help her. The remainder of the novel deals with his crisis of conscience over this, and the far worse deeds that he contemplates.
There are wonderful interludes as Glas muses to his diary about matters of philosophical interest; these are some of the most interesting passages in the novel.
While this is a slight novel, it has a character all its own. Although clearly related to the work of Knut Hamsun, Söderberg’s countryman and contemporary, it still has its own tone and aesthetic.
The publishing industry, suffering as it is under the weight of finding the next J.K. Rowling or Dan Brown, has unearthed a number of small masterpieces such as this in recent years. Harvill, Granta, Dedalus and the rest are to be congratulated that they can find a market for such interesting and characterful fiction among the dross. Long may they continue to unearth such gems.
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